Hi Joanne,

I am on 6 cycles of chemo. 3 FEC and 3 Docetaxel 

will be followed by Radiotherapy.

I can just give you my experience, I have had the first 2 chemo and sadly all my hair fell out on Day 19 after my first chemo.

They don't offer the cold cap whereI live, so that wasn't an option for me, although I know it doesn't work for everybody.

My side effects have also been Nausea, heartburn and extreme tiredness, which does seem to improve around 10 days after chemo,

Good luck with your treatment 

Hi. I too have just had my oncology appointment   and have been given 2 weeks to chose if I want to enter the optima study trial,which I don't,as I want to make sure that any little cancer cell is destroyed. They have told me that if I go for chemo it will be like you , six rounds of chemo  .The first  3 will be EC and the last  3 will be Docetaxel, then 19 rounds of radiation for my breast and underarm as I had lymph node positive.. Then the hormonal tablet tamoxifen for 5 years. 

My older sister had  the same cancer

 7years ago  though her tumour was bigger and she had to have chemo first. She shaved her head after the first round as she didn't want to have it falling out ,which I shall do to .   it still feels unreal to me even though I am sitting here with sharp shooting pains under my arm and around my nipple due to  the wide local excicion I had on the 4th Aug.   I just find it funny how I am handling this all.  My bcn has said the bubble will burst  when I  start chemo as then I will not only be a cancer patient but I will begin to look like one to.  Scary. 

Good luck with your treatment.  

Hi Joanne

I was planned to have 4 lots of EC followed by 4 lots of paclitaxel.  I ended up having 6 ECs and just the one paclitaxel as it did not agree with me at all.

I found EC relatively good compared to some, you often find that people who are 'good' on it don't shout about it so it may be those who have bad side effects that get the most coverage (as they need more support). I had my long hair cut short and used a cold cap but did lose about 40% of hair, to look after it meant I couldn't do much with it so decided to get a grade 1 following 2nd chemo...good decision and got used to it quickly.

I did find that I had rough days in the week after chemo but rest of the time generally ok.  I lost taste for alcohol & pizza (2 of the best things in my life!) but kept appetite and was rarely nauseous and never sick. I did get neutropenic and had to go into hospital but it was fine and enjoyed a change of scenery (the nurses were lovely & very entertaining) following which I had to inject self to increase white blood cell, which was again fine (didn't look forward to it but just got on with it).

You will find the impact of EC is cumulative and towards the end you'll be very tired but, if you're like me you'll bounce back quickly.  Hair started growing in earnest about 3 months after end of chemo but is now quite curly (this does happen as EC affects hair follicles). Throughout chemo I was able to go to gym and out on my bike and think that eating healthily and exercising helped manage/maybe reduce side effects and recovery afterwards.

So yep you'll get some side effects and like hair you'll only know when it happens.  EC impacts everyone differently so don't assume you'll get the same as someone else. What's important is letting your support team know of any issues/discomfort as they can help deal with.

Good luck X

Hi everyone,

I am on 6 cycles. 3 EC and 3 Docetaxel. 
I had my 3rd EC last week. I've used the cold cap on all 3 occasions. I've been losing hair every day for the last 5 weeks but due to it being exceptionally thick I do still have some, be it a lot thinner now and one or two bald patches but no way am I ready to shave it off because that is the day I would go to pieces. I just have two thin plaits and I wear a baseball cap. I've even bought a baseball cap with hair and fringe for if I need it. 
But back to chemo... round 1 wasn't too bad. Tired and groggy in week 1 then 2 good weeks. 
Round 2... not as good. 7 extremely tired and groggy days. Sleep, eat, sleep eat.

Round 3... ok for 4 days then groggy for 5 days leaving me feeling really sorry for myself... so sorry that I'm wanting to find a way out of having Docetaxel which I'm due to start in 11 days time. 
I'm not looking forward to the side effects at all and I just can't bare to think that I've got to put up with all this until December when my radiation will finish so I've discussed this with my Oncologist and she has given me some alternatives to think about over the weekend. 
The way I see it is I have had a mastectomy and luckily it hadn't spread, but when they sent my onco test to USA it came back as 26. If it had been 25 or under I wouldn't have needed chemo. 
So one of the options is for me to do like they do in USA and just have 4 lots of EC in which case the next one will be my last... or do I continue and brave the 3 rounds of Docetaxel. Decisions decisions. 
I wish I had a crystal ball. ️

Joanne1974

Hi Joanne  i to have to have EC chemotherapy, i have to have 4 and then  4 more but Paclitaxel. 

I had firsr EC chemotherapy  and by the end of the second week all my hair fell out,i was told it would with the EC chemotherapy, and no cold caps are available where i have my chemotherapy sessions, i think losing ny long hair was hard. I cut ut short,as it keot falling out and it was vety hot at the time. I thrn pluckrd up.the courage to get tge clippers out,and shave it all off. I just fekt in mire control doing that. I have 3 wigs ,but i dont wear them indoors, onky when i go to hospital appointments.  Ive has bloated stomach, fiubd myself burbing a lot, headaches, funny metallic taste in my mouth for first 4 days, but that stopped.  Shooting pains, which i think is nerve pain,constipation tgen loose stools. But ive not felt sick so far, so tgats a bonus.  Hooe everything  goes well for you.xxx

Hi

I know that your post is well over a year old but I came across this thread today.  Just wondered where you got to with your decision re having the 2nd lot of chemo? I have had an Onco score of 28, so similar to your situ.

Take care

Hi Joanne, 

I have stage 2 in situ her2+ breast cancer. So it has not spread either to other breast or lymph nodes. My plan is 4 Ec cycles then 4 docetaxel, surgery(lumpectomy or mastectomy) then radiotherapy plus herceptin/perjeta post surgery.

I'm now into my second cycle and feeling not too bad. First cycle wasn't too good as I had bad nausea and sickness for 5 days after which prevented me from keeping solids and liquids down and sent my temperature up and down. Once that finished I got rapidly better, just a little tired and weak. I found that being outside helped a lot. On the good side for me, I also lost a bit of weight, which is needed.

My hair was fine until  day 17 when I noticed more coming out in the brush and pain in the scalp. It has been coming out now every day since then and is getting thinner. Pain in scalp is better though. When it gets scrappy I'll be shaving it off, as I've heard that it makes things easier to make the break. I see losing my hair as a sign that the chemo is working on the tumour, and the sooner we get that shrunk, the sooner we get it out and continue on the road to a cancer free me. It is a horrible cosequence of the treatment, difficult to come to terms with, but your hair will grow back, and more often than not, the cancer will not!

My attitude to all this is that yes, I'm a cancer patient, yes the big C chose me, but I have to come to terms with it, do what I have to, trust the science, and get rid of it, whatever it takes. There are no alternatives.

I wish you the best of luck, and the strength to come to terms with it and fight back. You can do it! 

Hi Jasa - Thankyou for sharing your story.

ive had my first dose of TC chemo for breast cancer last week. Was dreading it but it hasn't been as bad as I thought. Just waiting for my hair to come out.
much love for your journey ahead

Efffie x 

Thank you all for the info re chemo. I had a cancer score( oncotype) of 38 so it is really worth while me going for chemo ( 3 lots of EC then 3 lots of docetaxel with 21 days in between each blast. I am going to have the chemo, of course. i was just going to get my hair cut really short to avoid the shock of hair falling out. My onclogist reckons i should give the cold cap a go. I trust her and her judgement - she is excellent. i will give it a go, but long hair coming away in clumps will be really difficult for me, i think if the cold cap fails. Funny, isnt it, that lots of us are really a bit traumatised by hair falling out, when really in the greater scheme of things, that is really not all that important compared with survival. 

i am going for the 1st chemo (EC) 3 days before Christmas. i think I might as well get on and get it started -so pleased to hear that although sme people have had a really rotten time on the EC, some people have not been too bad. 

I have to admit i am nervous.The chat has helped. Thanks for sharing your stories you brave people! Wishing you all luck and strength.